By Vince Pienaar
It took a full two hours for referee Luke Pearce to destroy what could have been a great rugby match – and it’s not his fault!
He applied the rules and used the one deadly weapon the referees have in their pockets.
It all started with the Pearce awarding a yellow card (as, according to the ridiculous rules, he is supposed to) to Stade Francais’ Vasil Kakovin after repeated collapsing of the scrum near their tryline, leaving the French team with 14 players. One minute later, the same infringement and Clement Castets is sent off, leaving them with 13 players.
Now the French elect to go for that silliest of all options: the uncontested scrum. According to the rules, the French have to surrender one player leaving them with 12 players. Except they don’t. When the next scrum happens they still have 13 players on the field.
The Stormers get a penalty and, yes, they take the scrum.
Remember that all of this happens with furious debates going on all over the pitch and the clock being stopped over and over again.
The commentators call it a “farce” and that it is. It has the look of a Laurel and Hardy slapstick movie as players are sent off – and called back – and sent off again with players standing around in zero temperatures freezing their butts off.
The Stormers won by 24-20 in a match that took two hours. It will be interesting to see for how many minutes the ball was actually in play.
Further south, near the Swiss border, the Cheetahs play French team Oyonnax – a match they should win by at least 20 points.
Except referee Anthony Woodthorpe dishes out no fewer than four cards. One to Oyonnax, three to the Cheetahs. One of the cards is upgraded to red and the Cheetahs play most of the match with 14 players. They fight bravely, but they lose by one point right at the death.
The only good thing that can come of this weekend’s business (and a farce it is), is that World Rugby will finally be convinced that they must do something about this cursed card system. It’s going to destroy the game.
Pictured above: Referee Luke Pearce during the World Cup
Image source: X
